1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method for forming an image on a recording sheet. In details, it relates to the apparatus and method that, in cases where a display scale of a display screen is reduced, display job images of two or more jobs having been displayed on a display screen, as overlapped images at a same display area, and enable to select each of the overlapped images of the jobs.
2. Background Technology
In recent years, image forming apparatuses such as a digital multifunctional peripheral provided with a copier function, scanner function, printer function and a facsimile function are commonly used. The operation of the image forming apparatus is conducted by the use of a display device having a touch panel type operation function provided on the image forming apparatus main-body, or a key board or a mouse of a computer connected via LAN, to the image forming apparatus and the like.
For example, in cases where a user operates the image forming apparatus by operating the touch panel, information is inputted by touching a finger or a touch pen on the display screen. In this case, since the touch panel does not have a left button or a right button unlike the mouse, left click operation, right click operation or drug operation cannot be conducted.
In Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-226571 (Patent Document 1), disclosed is an electronic apparatus which, in the case of executing the touch panel operation, displays a pointer at the touched position of operation items (button, etc.) displayed on the screen, and displays a selection menu for executing the operations of left click, right click or drug and the like. According to this apparatus, the similar operational movement as the left click, right click or drug operation by the mouse can be performed by the selection from the selection menu.
Meanwhile, in the electronic apparatus described in the Patent Document 1, sizes of buttons and the like which are operation objects on the screen of display are usually determined by considering the operation of touch panel and the operation of mouse. However, regarding the object whose size and position cannot be unambiguously determined due to scale change and the like on the screen, the above-described configuration cannot be employed.
For example, in the screen configuration to display, on a horizontal axis taken as a time axis, a reserved job (job bar) in a size corresponding to a time scale, the job (job bar) itself may become invisibly small size on the screen when the scale of horizontal time axis is change to be a scale of large unit. Further, in cases where these kinds of jobs exist in succession, a status arises where a plurality of jobs exist in a size of one dot which being the minimum unit on the screen. In such cases, a user needs operations to change the display scale in order to make the jobs visible and selectable size.
In view of the above problem, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus and an image forming method that enables to obtain required information without degrading operability, even in cases where the change of display scale is not appropriate.